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The U.S. State Department says it is taking the unusual step of releasing publicly the feedback
it has received about a controversial pipeline project after an “unprecedented” response to its
draft environmental report.

The department said it had received more than 1.2 million comments on TransCanada Corp’s
proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would run from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries and
ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“This marks the first time the Department has made all individual comments on a Presidential
permit application available to the public,” a State Department release said.

The northern leg of the pipeline running from Alberta to Nebraska needs the approval of
President Barack Obama because it crosses a national border. Work is well under way on the southern
leg, from Texas to Oklahoma.

The State Department said the decision to release the comments was part of an effort to be as
transparent as possible about the elements that will go into the decision on whether to approve the
project.

The first batch of comments reflected a variety of interests, from lawmakers to local
citizens.

Echoing a fractious public hearing held by the State Department in Grand Island, Nebraska
last month, they reflected the polarizing nature of the project. Respondents differed widely over
the environmental and economic assessments.

The State Department released its 2,000-page environmental impact report on Keystone in
March, more than four years after the project was first floated. On balance, the report seemed to
lean toward approving the proposed 830,000 barrel per day pipeline.

However, in April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rated the draft review “
insufficient,” signaling that unless the State Department addressed those concerns there could be
new roadblocks to the project, which has an estimated cost of at least $5.3 billion.

A U.S. official said this month that a decision on whether to give the go-ahead to the
pipeline may not be made until November, December or even early 2014, given the need to
painstakingly weigh the impact on the environment against the benefits to energy security.

Among the first batch of comments on the State Department site, two senators - one a Democrat
and one a Republican - from states through which the pipeline will pass called for “expeditious
approval” of the project, saying it would help the economies of their states and have minimal
environmental impact.

“The draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) affirmed what states along the
pipeline route determined in their own environmental reviews - this project is environmentally
sound and should move forward,” wrote Senators Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican, and Heidi
Heidkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota.